When was the last time you felt vulnerable to a temptation? Our world is overflowing with enticements, and as Christians, we must constantly sidestep our personal danger zones. Sometimes the pull of sin is so strong that our excuses to yield accumulate more quickly than godly reasons to resist. In this message, Dr. Stanley outlines the reality of spiritual warfare and the believer’s resources for successfully resisting temptation and guarding against deception.

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when is the last time

you found yourself feeling very

vulnerable

in fact the temptation was so strong

that you just think i can’t handle this

and uh you found yourself

very very puzzled maybe because of why

you’ve

being tempted or you found yourself

thinking this is the same old temptation

i’ve faced over and over and over again

or you might say well this was so

alluring

so enticing so inviting how can i

possibly resist this

that’s the devil’s line that’s the way

he talks

so i would ask you this question when’s

the last time you found yourself facing

something that you really had to

struggle

with turn away from turning away from or

saying no

to you felt great pressure

you wanted to walk away you debated

about whether you could or not or should

or not oh you know

you should but whether you would or not

and maybe finally you walked away but

maybe finally you thought

well god understands and have i ever

heard this god understands

and you yielded whatever that temptation

was so we can think all kinds of things

but the truth is this

if you’re alive you’re going to get

tempted

and we’re living in the day when it’s

everywhere

whether you hear it on the radio or the

television or see it on the television

or signs or insults whatever it might be

we’re living in a sensual age

and temptation is everywhere

and people respond in several different

ways

they just yield or they fight against it

and survive or they fight against it and

steal yield

and then they have an excuse that

they’ve used

with god before now lord you know i this

is not fair

everybody doesn’t fear what i feel on

and on and on we go

the truth is that was the beginning of

sin

in the world with temptation adam and

eve it hadn’t changed

i mean when satan got through telling

eve how fantastic it was going to be to

have a bite of this fruit

it’s the same story it’s just different

elements involved

and so uh when you find yourself

in that position what what do you think

do you stop to think where is this

coming from

is this in my heart where is this coming

from i can tell you

it is a satanic attack

the devil knows exactly when you and i

are the weakest

he knows at what point and he knows

exactly

what it takes to get our attention

and to make us think i’ve just got to

have that got to have one of those

forget the price i’m going to have one

of those

satan has a whole line of excuses

that persuade us of what we deserve

and nobody’s perfect and god loves us

and he’ll forgive us and on and on and

on he goes

to set us up to position ourselves to

miss out on god’s

best blessings in our life so i want to

talk about facing

a satanic attack and if you’ll turn

to ephesians for a moment and

the first three chapters of ephesians

are three are the most beautiful

encouraging chapters in the bible

because it talks about a believer’s

wealth

what we have as a result of knowing

christ as our savior

and then beginning in the fourth chapter

and the fifth

uh here is our walk this is the way we

should walk

following the lord jesus christ

then we come to the last chapter and

we see there’s a battlefield and that is

a battlefield with satan

god is so good to us he walks with us

and yet there are times when

we are tempted and tried and so i want

us to look at you with the 10th verse

and as he concludes this this epistle

listen to what he says

finally be strong in the lord

and then the strength of his might he

didn’t say be strong in yourself

he said be strong in the lord in the

strength of his might

put on the full armor of god so that

you’ll be able to stand firm against the

schemes of the devil

for our struggle is not against flesh

and blood

but against the rulers against the

powers

against the world forces of this

darkness

against the spiritual forces of

wickedness in the heavenly places

all of us are going to face temptation

now

when you think about it i would just ask

you this question

think about what is the strongest

temptation you face in your life

today i don’t mean just this particular

day but

in your daily life today what’s the

strongest temptation

why do you think it’s why do you think

the devil has used that

to tempt you to turn you away from god

to walk in a different path to ignore

god’s warnings

to ignore his blessings his awesome

blessings in your life

but somehow you find yourself being

tempted

and getting in a position where the

blessings god owns to give you

he can no longer give you paul says

we’re to stand

firm against the schemes of the devil he

certainly has schemes

so the first thing i want to do is to

define what is a satanic attack

a satanic attack is a deliberate

willful assault by satan

upon an individual with the purpose of

doing them harm

either in their spirit soul or body or

all three

look at that a deliberate willful

assault by satan

upon an individual with a purpose of

doing them harm either in their spirit

soul or body or all three and when is

that any time

anywhere satan knows exactly when you

and i are the weakest

he knows exactly what it takes to trip

us up

he may know who is the best the trip is

up or what it is

and we were allured by what does it take

to trip us up

every single believer is faced with

temptation

and if you’ll think about today our

whole society

is geared to attempting us for something

you turn on the radio you hear it we

ought to buy this

you watch the television you ought to

buy this and see this i have that i have

him i have her

and you can look any way you want to

look

there is the temptation to have

oftentimes what we do not need

what we should not have and

the result of temptation is division and

destruction

and so if i should ask you what’s

satan’s objective in tempting you

you’re a fine christian person you love

god what’s his objective

first of all to draw us away from god to

himself

satan wants to draw us away from god so

he knows

exactly what it takes to get our mind

off of god

or for spiritual things onto onto

material things

or onto sensual things he knows exactly

what it takes

what does it take what’s his objective

it draws away from god and to himself

and to thwart god’s purpose in that life

in other words if the devil can change

thwart

god’s purpose in your life he’s got you

where he wants you

because remember this god has a will for

your life here’s a plan for your life

he’s got the best

and so satan is not going to say well i

want to destroy you

no he just wants to move your attention

from god spiritual things to earthly

things material things

sensual things and then to deny god that

worship and glory do to him that is

the devil isn’t one you’re worshiping

god

so listen he’s given us a whole plate

full of stuff

to get our attention away from god

because that’s his purpose

and then to destroy us satan’s

ultimate goal for temptation is

destruction

destroy our relationship to god destroy

our interest in him destroy our faith in

him

destroy our desire to pray destroy our

sense of eternal security

destroy destroy destroy destroy destroy

that’s his goal and yet we know that

and isn’t it interesting that in spite

of what we know how many sermons have

you heard in your life

you can’t even count them and i

certainly hope you’re going to hear a

lot more

but the issue is what are you going to

do about the truth that you hear

satan knows about the truth that you’re

listening to and here’s what he does

he shows up to distract you

from hearing the truth so you keep

moving in a direction that’ll take you

away from god

all of us face some kind of temptation

in life

i didn’t say every single day but listen

everybody has something that they can be

tempted by

it may be something that you keep having

victory over time after time after time

or you may feel defeated time after time

but satan’s goal is to get you away from

god

so he’ll tell you why you don’t have

time to read the bible

he’ll say first of all you you’ve got

you’ve got to be somewhere at a certain

time

secondly he says you don’t need to read

you don’t even you don’t even understand

you don’t understand why why read

something what about deuteronomy and

leviticus and

for ii kings why do you want to read the

bible

anything he can do to get your mind off

of spiritual things is what he’ll do

and he wants to

divide relationships anything to

divide families anything to bring

divorce

any kind of sexual sin anything that’ll

take your mind off god

that is you ought to buy this order by

that don’t ask god about it

you worked hard you worked 40 hours or

50 or 60 hours a week

you’ve been working all these years you

deserve it

so think about it you’re trying to reach

your goals in life and he’s working

against you

you’re trying to live a pure life he’s

working against you you’re trying to

save your money he’s telling you ought

to buy this

satan is your enemy now his strategy

can be found in three words just three

words

i mean as complex as we may think the

devil is

strategist three words the first one is

this

his first step is to deceive us that is

to lie to us if you believe a lie

you’ve taken the first step to an

absolute defeat

and sidon up with the devil

and oftentimes when people want to sin

against god

they’ll take the truth of god and try to

twist it all around

and watch this i can i can hear this

many times

but you don’t know about my situation

well god knows about your situation you

you don’t know how long i’ve suffered

well god knows how long you’ve suffered

well you know you don’t know how long

i’ve been in need

you can come up with all kinds of

excuses remember this god’s heard them

all

and they didn’t come from god they came

from the devil

but the issue is this god has the best

life for every single one of us and the

devil has his best to do what to deceive

us

and to divide us you think about how

many churches

get divided over somebody disagreeing

with us at nila

nations of divided churches divided

families divided friends divided

divided divided divided separate

separate separate

because then you’ve got chaos no love

criticism they say things they

would say one day they wouldn’t say the

next satan is a divider he’s a deceiver

he is a destroyer that’s his purpose to

destroy our testimony

to destroy our life physically they

destroy our finances destroy our

marriage

destroy our families destroy destroy and

destroy so deceive divine destroy

that’s all he needs deceive divine

destroy

the next time you feel tempted ask

yourself the question

is satan deceiving me and my feel

am i being divided from what all i be

doing and

am i headed to a destruction

if if a child of god if you a believer

will stop when you are tempted and ask

yourself those questions

am i being deceived

number one question is my mind being

divided

am i heading towards some destruction

ask yourself the question so

we need to be alert and watchful and as

a child of god

none of us can boast of being so strong

that we’ll never be tempted when

somebody says well i may be tempted

about some things but not that

satan just puts check by that one

none of us not any of us

can say i will never be tempted by this

that aila

we think we aren’t we we would almost

swear we wouldn’t be

and we could give you a lot of reasons

we wouldn’t be but the devil

wants a sense of self-confidence that’s

based

on mush no foundation but based

on mushy attitudes about what you really

will not do

and when i think of this great passage

of scripture

in um first corinthians 10 13

listen to what paul says everybody ought

to know this one

no temptation listen to that no

temptation

has taken you attempted you have tried

you

but such is is common to man

listen come unto man and

that being case god is faithful who will

not allow you to be tempted more than

you’re able to bear

but will with the temptation also make a

way of escape

that you can bear it we have a promise

from god

i do not have to do that i may want to

do it

i may want it more than anything else

but i don’t have to

if i don’t have to then i’ll make the

choice either i will i will not

and when i think about the condition our

nation is

in and the things that temp people

and the people who are being destroyed

being destroyed

self-destruction as a result of yielding

the temptation

deceive divide destroy so

whether it’s a nation whether it’s a

church whether it’s a family

satan’s busy so when you feel

tempted what do you do do you

watch this carefully is your first

response

a sudden desire to find

a real good sounding excuse

or when you attempted did you know it’s

if you say this is of the devil it’s not

who i am

it doesn’t belong in my life i choose to

i choose

to reject this we have a choice

now a person who’s unbeliever they don’t

have a kind of choice

i’ll tell you why because they have a

fallen nature

and so when satan comes home with a very

very strong overpowering

event in their life or presentation of

something they want

they already have three strikes against

them it’s the way they’ve been living

so it’s sort of easy to slip into what

you’ve been doing

when you’re a child of god you trusted

him as your savior

you begin on a platform of strength you

have the holy spirit within you

the first of all identify what you’re

facing

as a sin that it doesn’t fit your life

it isn’t of god and it’s destructive

it it cannot bring you anything that’s

good you have the holy spirit

the person who’s not a believer doesn’t

have that

and the word of god is our greatest

defense against the devil

because we don’t have to choose sin we

have the holy spirit living within us he

promises that

you have the holy spirit what does he do

he makes you aware of the temptation he

reminds you maybe

with some scripture or something he’s

already done in your life

that god will give you victory he

reminds you you do not

you do not have to yield to this it is a

choice you make

and we can blame it on other people well

my mother my father my sister my brother

my friend

my friends this that now that’s not the

issue

if you want to if you want to keep

living in sin all you have to do is

close this book

and don’t open it up and just you can

open up once a week

it’s not going to keep you from sinning

god has given us watch this he’s given

us his

written word and he’s given us the holy

spirit to live inside of us

in order to interpret that word for us

to remind us that the wages of sin is

death

and so we all have to face temptations

only you know how you handle them

somebody says well you know i think god

understands

that is not our excuse for

or our explanation for living in sin

because god wants the best for us and

and their christian experience does not

mean

that you’ll never sin against god

all of us at some point at times in our

life do things or say things or see

things or whatever it might be

we know a lot of god what do you do in

other words you just give up and say

well see

i’ve tried to live a christian life i

can’t so forget it no

the apostle paul never claimed

perfection the other person who can

claim that’s jesus

but a true believer when you attempted

you turn to god

lord here’s what i’m facing i don’t want

this in my life

i feel say help me jesus help me help me

help me jesus whatever it takes

you say well then suppose i yield anyway

you ask god to forgive you to strengthen

you to make you

aware of that in your life that that’s

an area of weakness

if i should ask you how many of you know

at least

one area of weakness in your life don’t

raise your hand no

please no but how many of you know

at least one area of weakness in your

life

we all do anybody who says they don’t

not telling the truth you know when if

for example if it’s a gossip if it’s

lust

if it’s uh overeating

if it’s the way you spend your money or

if it’s your lack of faithfulness or you

know one another whatever it might be

and besides that remember this god knows

it

in other words you never have to come to

him and say god by the way let me remind

you of something no

he knows there is a weakness i think

about how many families are destroyed

by somebody falling into temptation

whether it’s a teenager or whether it’s

their parents

think about people who go to jail

because they feel the temptation of

stealing

they can justify it other people have it

they don’t have it therefore they’ll

just

take what they want you can go right

down the list of every sin in the bible

we could give an excuse for it but it’s

not acceptable to god

now here’s what i want you to see you do

not have to

somebody says but i just couldn’t help

myself

you have god who will help you through

anything you face

you say well suppose i sin then what

here’s what he says if we confess our

sins

that if we agree with god about the

nature of our sins

if we confess our sins he’s faithful

and just to forgive me for my sins why

because jesus

christ is my savior i’ve yielded to him

as the lord of my life and this is a

point of failure and i’m asking you god

to forgive me

not on the basis that i deserve it but

on the basis that jesus shed blood

atoned for my sin and i have another

chance

god wipes away our guilt now

you say well i’ve been to god about the

same thing over and over and over again

well god knows whether you really and

surely are committed to him or not

and some say watch this some sins leave

scars

that you can’t erase

remember this statement the scars of sin

can last you a lifetime only the blood

of jesus can atone for them

but you know what scar is still there

and we have to thank god for his awesome

power to

enable us to overcome them so i’m simply

saying to you

whatever the weaknesses in your life

need to bring it to god

will they help you through it yes so i

would just ask you to consider in your

own life

what effect has temptation had on my

life

why have i reasoned that i could excuse

myself

why have i told god over and over again

that i’m different i grew up in a bad

situation

i grew up with parents who didn’t teach

me i grew up with alcoholic parents

i grew up with parents getting married

three or four times i did this i did

that i did the other god on the stands

listen carefully god understands but god

doesn’t excuse sin he’s willing to deal

with he’s willing to forgive

he’s willing to give you the strength

that you need but you

have to first come clean with him lord

here i am and i’m weak in this area

i desperately need you to do something

for me and my life in this area

in jesus name will they answer your

prayer yes he will

you say are we supposed to be perfect no

no

that’s why he says if we confess our

sins

agree with him about him he’s faithful

and just to forgive us and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness

in some sense we probably have all

confessed some things over and over and

over again

but we have the holy spirit

living within us to enable us to be

strong enough

to say no and the more times you say no

the stronger you become

you always have god enabling you

warning you and strengthening you to be

obedient to god

amen father we thank you for your love

for us

we thank you in the midst of this dark

generation which we’re living

that there is an awesome light that’s

eternal

it glows within our hearts that makes it

possible for us to live

godly and to walk clearly

plainly lovingly before you day by day

i pray lord this morning that somebody

seated here who is going through

some terrible temptation or maybe is

trapped by it right now

that you’ll give them this grace god

the grace to remember

they can be freed and the grace to

remember that you love them in spite of

all of it

and the grace to remember that your

power

is greater than the temptation they face

we love you we praise you we thank you

we’re trusting you

daily to be our guide

our savior our lord the master of our

life

show us how to live above sin lord in

every way

in jesus name amen

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